ZFS is where it’ll be. So we should start learning now.

Sun’s ZFS is truly a remarkable filesystem. A while back I had read that it was going to be integrated with FreeBSD. And apparently that integration of ZFS into FreeBSD is now essentially complete. I was also reading some time ago that a port of ZFS to DragonFly BSD was being considered. So with Solaris and future releases of FreeBSD supporting ZFS, it’s no doubt in my mind that it will become widely used.

Many of us already have worked with ZFS on Solaris. Mark Round is one such person, and he has written a very interesting analysis of the caching of ZFS. I think his article is a must-read for those of us who deal with ZFS. And for those who have not yet started to become familiar with ZFS, I suggest that you do. With major server operating systems like Solaris and soon FreeBSD offering support, it will become commonplace. And knowing its performance habits will be essential for any system administrator.